


Pretend to be my date?

by ZRM



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Harry Potter Setting, Baby Harry Potter, F/M, Harry Potter is Not the Boy-Who-Lived, James Potter & Lily Evans Potter Live, James Potter Lives, Lily Evans Potter Lives
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-27
Updated: 2021-01-27
Packaged: 2021-03-12 13:06:46
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,305
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29010993
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZRM/pseuds/ZRM
Summary: Lily wasn't interested in going to the party with someone who talked about the healing properties of plants. She already knew all of it so when asked she makes a mistake she has to fix.**I saw these screenshots on Pinterest of two Tumblr posts and had two different friends choose one from either picture. They were kind of hard to write given what they chose and this is kind of rushed so apologies.
Relationships: James Potter/Lily Evans Potter
Kudos: 6





	Pretend to be my date?

**Author's Note:**

> “Pretend to be my date.”  
> “I was doing fine, really, and then you waltz back in like you didn’t break my heart.”  
> The sentences I had to work with.. Sorry the story is a little rushed!

Lily sighed as McCormick continued going on and on about something she wasn’t particularly interested. She felt bad for not paying any attention to what he was saying, but she really didn’t care one bit about the healing properties of wolfsbane. When she turned her attention back to him she realized he was waiting for an answer to something.  
“Sorry, what did you ask?”  
His smile looked strained and his cheeks tinted red.  
“Will you be my date to the SlugClub party? It’s fine if you aren’t interested, I just am. Interested, I mean. I’m very interested. In you! I mean, I like you. I have a crush on you.”  
Lily paused, unsure how to respond. She didn’t want to just outright decline, but she really didn’t want to sit through another lecture on healing properties of plants.   
“You don’t want to. It’s okay, I totally-”  
“No! That’s not it! I’ve actually already got a date. I’m sorry.”  
McCormick actually looked sort of relieved.  
“Oh, okay. Maybe we could go to Hogsmeade together next weeked? Unless you’re serious about this guy?”  
“It’s not serious serious, but I like him so I hope it is soon.”  
He smiled a small smile and nodded.  
“Of course,” and without another word he walked away.  
Lily sighed and laid her head on the table. She heard Marlene’s giggle and felt her brush against her side.  
“Homework that hard?”  
Lily lifted her head and glared at her.  
“I just told McCormick I have a date to Slughorn’s party. Where am I supposed to find a date before tonight?”  
Marlene looked across the common room to where the four boys Lily hated most were sitting. Lily knew what was going to come out of her mouth before she had to say it.  
“Marlene no.”  
“Marlene yes,” Alice said from across the table.  
“Listen, Lily, if you want a date before tonight the only person you’re going to have agree on such short notice is Potter.”  
Lily groaned. She knew Marlene was right. She stood up and made her way over to the four. Remus had his knees pulled up to his chest and he was reading. Peter was sitting beside Remus doing what looked like charms homework. Sirius and James were both sitting with their feet on the back of the sofa laughing and stuffing candies into their mouths. Upon seeing Lily, James swung his feet around attempting to sit up, but instead falling off the couch. He leaned against it as though he had meant to do it.  
“Alright, Evans?”  
“Potter,” she took a deep breath before saying the next sentence. “Come to Slughorn’s party with me.”  
James’s face turned bright red and he ran his fingers through his hair. He looked at Remus and Sirius both of which looked just as shocked as James himself felt.  
“I- uh- what?”  
“Pretend to be my date. Come to Slughorn’s party with me tonight.”  
James composed himself at that and nodded.  
“Okay, sure. Yes. I’ll go with you. Tonight?”  
“Yes, make sure you’re ready at 8 sharp and meet me here.”  
James nodded and Lily turned on her heel and walked back over to where Marlene and Alice were sitting. She heard a loud noise erupt from behind her and sighed. As soon as she sat down, she laid her head down on the table.   
Later that evening after getting ready, Lily was nervous. This wasn’t a good idea. When James got downstairs, she’d be lying if she said her heart didn’t skip a beat. He tamed his hair a bit and his dress robes were tight in all of the right places. He had either put contacts in or was going totally blind. He smiled at her upon seeing her.  
“Alright, Evans?”  
“Let’s go, Potter. You really had to take every last second. Ugh!”  
James didn’t say anything, opting to just walk beside her quietly. Lily hated it. He was never quiet. Lily looked at him and then just stopped almost at their destination. James kept walking for a second before realizing Lily had stopped and he turned to face her.  
“What is it?”  
“Stop being annoying.”  
“What? Stop being annoying? I’m not even saying anything?”  
“I know! That’s the problem!”  
“So, what exactly is it that you want?”  
“Ugh, never mind!”  
“Um-”  
“Just stop being quiet, please.”  
James smirked.  
“You like me don’t you, Evans?”  
Lily rolled her eyes and pushed past him. They walked in and Lily saw McCormick turn and look at them. He narrowed his eyes. She saw James catch Regulus Black’s eye. He looked sad. Both of them did actually. He started to walk over towards Regulus before pausing.   
“Uh, Lil-”  
“Do what you need to,” she said with a nod.  
James walked over to where Regulus was. James approached Regulus slowly and Lily tilted her head to the side trying to figure out exactly what James was doing. She felt a tap on her shoulder and turned to see McCormick.  
“So, Potter, huh?”  
She nodded, looking back over to where James was.   
“Yeah, James.”  
“Weren’t you just calling him an ‘arrogant toerag’ like last week?”  
Lily shrugged.  
“Things change. Sorry, McCormick.”  
“It’s fine.”  
James looked over to where Lily was and he waved at her with a huge smile. She gave him a small smile and waved back. Maybe McCormick realized he had no chance and left after that. Lily wasn’t sure. All she knew was that he was gone and suddenly Severus was beside.  
“Potter?”  
She turned to look at him.  
“Huh?”  
“You came with Potter?”  
She nodded.  
“He’s a bully, Lil.”  
“So are you, Sev.”  
Severus looked offended.  
“I never bullied anyone.”  
Lily gave him a look. Before Severus was able to say anything, James came up beside her.  
“Hey, Lils. I brought you punch,” he said, handing her one of the drinks. “Hello, Snape.”  
“Potter, I see you finally did something about that mop you call hair.”  
“Well, no. Sirius did. I don’t know my way around hair potions like he does.”  
Snape rolled his eyes.  
“Of course. The little princess helped you out.”  
James’s grip on his cup tightened.  
“Sirius is a great friend like that.”  
“Rumor has it you guys sleep together.”  
James’s cup broke from his grip.   
“Rumor has it you’re gunning to be a death eater. If you’d excuse me, I need to go to the restroom,” James said, with a polite smile.  
“Even if I was to become a death eater it is none of your concern.”  
“Just like if Sirius and I sleep together it’s none of yours, you filthy blood suprem-” James was cut off with a punch from Severus.  
“Severus,” Lily screamed.   
She grabbed James’s chin and turned her towards him.   
“Come on, James. Let me get you cleaned up.”  
She dropped his chin and grabbed his hand, leading him towards the bathroom just down the hall. She went to get paper towels and turned to look at him.  
“Sit on the counter.”  
James jumped up and sat as Lily got the paper towels wet. She went over to him and stood between his legs reaching up to clean the blood from his face.   
“Are you okay, James?”  
He smiled and cocked his head to the side.  
“You know, that’s the second time you’ve called me James.”  
Lily rolled her eyes feeling her face heat up.  
“That is your name isn’t it?”  
James didn’t say anything else. He just let’s Lily do her thing. After a while of Lily still wiping beneath his nose, James chuckled and lightly grabbed her wrist.  
“I think it’s cleaned up.”   
Lily’s eyes darted to his mouth and he narrowed his eyes.   
“Lil, the, uh, the-”  
“Kiss me, Potter.”  
“Okay.”  
He leaned in and pressed his lips gently against hers. She put a hand on the back of his head and pulled him closer. He smiled before pulling away and resting his forehead against hers.  
“Go to Hogsmeade with me next weekend?”  
She nodded before turning away and walking out. James jumped down and ran after her.  
“So, can I call you my girlfriend?”  
“If you must.”  
James smiled.  
“That means, I can kiss you all the time.”  
She didn’t respond and just kept walking, she couldn’t wait for their date.  
A week later on a Saturday, James met Lily in the common room and they went on their date. He started by bringing her to Three Broomsticks. They spent the entire time laughing and joking around and Lily couldn’t understand why she never thought to give him a chance before. After Three Broomsticks, they went to Honeydukes and James bought her all the sweets she wanted. After that, Lily asked to go to Scrivenshaft’s Quill Shop for some more parchment and ink.  
James decided to end the date he would bring her to the shrieking shack. Lily held James’s hand the entire time and cuddled into his side. She glared at James as they walked up. He smiled at her as he jumped over the fence.  
“Come on, Lils. You know I would never let anything happen to you. I just wanna touch the door then we can run back to the castle.”  
“This is so stupid, Potter. It’s haunted, you know that?”  
“I just want to say hi to the ghosts,” he said with a cocky smirk.  
“James, this is a seriously bad idea.”   
James faked outrage.   
“Sirius has good ideas thank you very much!”  
Lily rolled her eyes.  
“James you know what I mean. I’m scared,” she said as they walked onto the porch.  
James smiled at her and went up and knocked on the door. James bent down.  
“Get on my back, I’ll carry you back to the castle. It’s a long walk.”  
She got on his back and they made the hike back to the castle. Lily realized that deciding to go out with James was the best choice of her life.  
Two years later and Lily couldn’t be happier to be leaving Hogwarts with James as her boyfriend. She can’t imagine not having him in her life so when James says they “need to talk” she would be lying if she said she didn’t panic a little bit. When she walked into the living room and saw James sitting there with a bag she knew what was coming.  
“James?”  
“Lils, I can’t do this anymore.”  
“Why? Tell me why. What happened?”  
“I- Lily, don't make this harder than it needs to be.”  
“James, please,” she begged, crying.  
“Goodbye, Lily,” he said, as a tear rolled down his cheek.  
He walked out the door and out of her life. Lily sat on the ground right where she was and started sobbing. Why would he do this to her? Why would he hurt her like this? How could he? She went to Marlene’s and continued sobbing. Marlene threatened to kill him. She wasn’t okay for the next few months. Three months later she found out she was pregnant. She was going to have James’s baby and he was never going to know. She would never let him see the baby.   
After a year the war had ended. She was grocery shopping when it happened. Harry was born and Lily was stressed. She turned her back on her cart for five seconds as Harry started screaming. She was trying to grab a box of cereal off the top shelf.  
“Shh, baby we’re almost done I promise. Shh, hush baby.”  
“Awe, it can’t be that bad little guy. You’re gonna be alright,” a male’s voice she had sworn would never meet Harry said.  
She turned around so fast it made her dizzy.  
“Potter.”  
His head whipped in her direction so fast.  
“Lily.”  
“Don’t even think about it, Potter. Back away from my child.”  
James looked at Harry then back at Lily.   
“Is-is- Lily, is this my child.”  
“Only in blood. If you’ll excuse us we’ve got places to be.”  
She walked off with Harry and went to the checkouts. She was trying to get away as quickly as possible. After checking out, she went outside to her car. She put Harry in, making sure he was properly buckled. She was crying, making it that much harder for her. James walked up as she was buckling the seatbelt.  
“Go away, James!”  
“Lily, I-”  
“Shut up, Potter. Just shut up and leave me alone! I was doing fine, really, and then you waltzed back in like you didn’t break my heart! Some nerve you got!”  
“Lil-”  
“No!”  
“I left you because I was protecting you, Lily! If I wouldn’t have left I would’ve lost everyone I love! The death eaters, they targeted all of us. They went after my parents and they would’ve gone after you and my child had I stayed. I didn’t want anything to happen to you. I wrote to you after the war. Lots of times. Can we please start over, Lily.”  
Lily stood there, facing away from James wiping the tears that were still running down her face.  
“He’s mine, right? I want to be in both of your lives, Lil. I- listen. Will you face me?”  
Lily turned around slowly and faced him.   
“This was supposed to be yours two years ago before I got scared. I know it doesn’t mean much now, but I love you more than anything, still. I want you to have this. If you don’t want me back, sell it and use the money on the baby.”  
Lily was silent before Harry started crying again. She turned around and started cooing at him before saying, “Harry, his name is Harry. Harry James Potter.”  
“Lil-”  
“Give me your hand, Potter.”  
She grabbed a pen out of her purse and wrote her phone number on the back of his hand.  
“Maybe we can catch up and you can see Harry.”


End file.
